Why YOU Should Listen BE-4 You Transmit

Without a doubt, more on-the-air havoc and chaos is caused by OP's who DON'T listen before

they transmit than just about anything else.  If NoT Explicitly stated in Part-97 of the FCC rules & regulations, the ARRL Operating manual (and just common sense) dictates that before you EVER make a transmission of ANY kind, you should FIRST ensure that the frequency you are about to unload on is a CLEAR Frequency.

From one point of view it would seem like writing an entire Blog about this subject should be completely unnecessary.  Then again, with over 1,000,000 radio amateurs licensed to operate
a radio transmitter, I guess it is safe to assume that a not-insignificant percentage of them will
have not yet gotten the message.  Last weekend's All Asian Dx Cw contest is proof of THAT.

While there are many different times I should listen before transmitting, included in the Top-3 are:

• BE-4 tuning up a transmitter or amplifier.
• When contemplating jumping into a pileup for a "rare" station.
• When contemplating calling CQ.

Let's begin with the tune-up process.

Now, I hear many voices saying something on the order of "...but dewd, of course I need to tune

my transmitter before I transmit and that can ONLY be done on the air".  NoT Quite - have you

ever heard of a Dummy Load?  Somebody once said "You can learn a LoT from a Dummy Load...".  Much of the time dummy loads allow 90% of the tune-up process to be done OFF THE AIR.

 

Another mindset says "my transceiver has an auto tuner, so it doesn't matter" - WRONG!  
While your auto tuner is auto-tuning, it is putting out a signal over the air; even if it reduces
power before tuning, a signal is STILL be radiated.  If you're tuning into a 9.5db-gain yagi,
whatever power the auto-tuner cuts back to is being AMPLIFIED approximately 8X; 50w x 8
is 400; 25w x 8 is still a respectable 200 watts of world-wide hearable carrier while you tune.

Next UP is attempting to work a pile-up.

In MY mind, it goes without saying that when considering calling a DX station amidst an already existing pileup, you should ALWAYS listen before throwing your callsign into an already rampant
mess of calling stations.  When I was running as WP2/WQ6X from St. Croix, I would only have to 

put out a CQ for 15-seconds before the DX-skimmers would report my call.  This was very noticeable when running 30-meter Cw.  Before I had a chance to sip my Kona coffee, seemingly out of nowhere would come the screeches of a dozen simultaneous callers.  

 

Running a pile-up is no problem - AS LONG AS calling stations follow my instructions. 

The difficulty comes when stations randomly send their callsign while attempting to copy
a much weaker (and more deserving) QRP station.  I wrote this up during my visit to WP2.

([CLICK HERE] to read that write-up.)  LooK for an updated write-up on this soon.

Last but not least, the time to listen before you transmit is when you are contemplating calling CQ.  Consider this, if I am already using the frequency and you blindly send a CQ, the SDR-skimmers will pickup on that CQ call and notify spotting lists all over the world.  Within seconds the frequency which I have run for nearly an hour will be barraged with callers expecting to work you.  HuH? WTF? 
A simple ragchew will be turned into a catcall bedlam like the above.

While calling CQ in and of itself is about as simplistic as it can be, it is the steps PRIOR
to the first CQ call that are most important.  
Breaking them down we have:

1. Listen FIRST.  If it seems quiet then listen Again to be sure.
2. On Cw, Send "QRL?" or on Ssb QUICKLY say "is the frequency
   in use?".  Then, repeat step #1.
3. Then and ONLY then, make your first CQ call.  Someone on the frequency trying to copy a weak one may finally be able to send "QRL"; in which case find another frequency and start over.

Proper operating ethics is to ALWAYS yield to the station who was already transmitting on a given frequency.  Just because I don't immediately respond does not mean the frequency is open; it more likely means that I am LISTENING to the station I was attempting to work when you blasted 1500 WATTS of "QRL?" on top of him.

Last month I wrote the 3rd installment in the
series about Why You Should NoT Call Me. 
([CLICK HERE] to read that).
In that 3rd Blog, I detailed 6 important ideas.

Paraphrasing point #5: There is NOTHING WORSE than a caller being significantly off frequency with horribly choppy Cw, requiring several repeats on their callsign, only to find out that they are a DUPE or otherwise NoT workable in that contest.  (If they had read the contest rules they would already know that I can't work them and not waste their time calling me.)

WHAT a COMPLETE WASTE of MY TIME; and, more importantly, what a WASTE of time for the 10 other stations (who already read the contest rules) and are patiently awaiting their turn.


Remember folks: amateur radio is about communication and communication is ALL about LISTENING.  If you don't listen first, how can you possibly be able to communicate effectively. 
It amazes me how operators who frequently participate in traffic net activity and are willing/able
to follow the net control "rules", yet when it comes to working a DX pileup ignore the fact that the DX station (ME) is the net control of that frequency.  If traffic net callers start behaving the way DX station callers do, the ENTIRE NTS (National Traffic System) will come crashing onto it's knees, right before our very eyes (and ears).

If you want to get the MOST out of amateur radio communication,
remember the most IMPORTANT first step:  LISTEN!